logsinthenight | EVENT LOG: COTTON CANDY HEARTS

Entry tags:

EVENT LOG: COTTON CANDY HEARTS

characters: everyone.
location: amusement park.
date/time: august 17 - 31.
content: time to enjoy a little time at the carnival!
warnings: n/a. please use cw tags as needed.

oh come, take my hand, and run through playland...

It's clear in the past two days of fevered work, the spirits are up to something. Collecting rainbow wigs and pinstriped jackets, gathering food and preparing decorations. There's no getting them to reveal the secret, though — any attempt to ask only results in an ominous gesture of silence. However, characters won't have to worry about what the spirits are up to for too long, as on the start of the 17th each and every resident of Beacon will be delivered a note, inviting them to come out and enjoy themselves at the Amusement Park.

ALL FUN AND GAMES.

Over the last few days, some of the food tucked away in the General Store, The Invincible's stock room, and the kitchens of The Landmark may have gone missing - but not to worry, because here it is, all stocked at little booths within the amusement park, ready for sampling! The enticing aromas of fried batter and sugar wafts through the air, no matter where you are in the park. Find old favorites, from funnel cakes to fried pickles, popcorn to whole turkey legs - or try something new! Ever had a corn dog wrapped in curly fries? How about a deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a stick? One spirit, currently chewing on a crispy battered pine cone, even offers a unique suggestion - bring it anything you like and it will deep fry it for you. You do have to eat it, though, that's the catch, or the spirit will be very irate and might take something of yours later to deep-fry and leave on your pillow. Don't waste good food!

At the end of the row, tables have been covered in classy checkered red-and-white tablecloths, and piled with ingredients, and it looks like ovens formerly belonging to some ruined village housing have been dragged all the way out here and plugged in, and are now waiting and ready. There's flour (all purpose, pastry, chickpea, and others, and - no, that's just a pile of sand on that plate), plenty of butter and sugar and spices, all sorts of summer fruits, and more. It's a pie making contest! The judge is the Lunch Lady spirit, who hmms and ahhs and ohhhhs wisely as they pace back and forth along the tables, observing the pies being made and occasionally taking tiny little samples with tiny little forks when the pies are baked. How will they decide the winner? That's their secret, for now!

But their delicate little tasting session has left the pies mostly unscathed, which means it's time for the pie eating contest! A rowdy quartet of squirrel-like spirits cheers everyone on who wishes to participate, and they squeak and chatter at participants, bringing pie after pie after pie directly to whoever walks over. How many can you get down?

If food isn't your style, though, carnie spirits host a number of games scattered throughout the park. They whistle and wave you over, jump on your shoulder if small or yell at you with animated limbs from above if quite tall, urging in their musical tones for anyone and everyone to come on down and give the games a try! Toss balls at a set of colorful stacked bottles, and see how many you can knock down in a single throw, with candy and costume jewelry for rewards. Fling a ring into a booth and land it around the head of the stuffed animal you want to win, if your aim is good enough. There's even a duo dunk tank set up - over a large tub, two chairs are suspended, each with an attached bucket of softballs and a target over the head of the chair. You and a friend get to climb in and see who can dunk who first!

MUST BE THIS TALL TO RIDE.

A carnival isn't a carnival without some rides to test your bravery with, is it? Past where the food booths and skill games are set up, there are a selection of them set up, all providing various levels of thrills. There's a roller coaster, of course, that's been constructed of wood and makes a loud rattling noise as it drives you through the loops and hills. There's also a tilt-a-whirl, a gravitron, and a log flume, if you're still feeling the effects of the heat wave.

For those less interested in thrill seeking, there are also slightly tamer rides, like the bumper cars, a ferris wheel, and the tunnel of love. All of these rides have the innate feeling of danger that you'd find at any theme park or carnival, but they operate quite safely, albeit with some creaking.

COTTON CANDY HEARTS.

Away from the fun and excitement, the Fun House has also come back to life. There's something a great deal more ominous about it than the rest of the celebration, however — in fact, spirits will actively attempt to steer residents away. However, those determined to explore can still find their way inside.

To start, it doesn't seem that abnormal. A mirrored maze, flashing lights and creepy music. However, as they travel through the mirrored halls, they'll notice something. Their reflection doesn't necessarily follow their movements. Actually, it seems like it is trying to get closer. Maybe that isn't their reflection at all?

Trapped and lost in the maze, eventually the reflections will become full-fledged matching doppelgängers of any character that entered. It's hard to tell the difference between the fake and the actual thing, though the doppelgängers will not speak, only chase — and chase aggressively. They will grow more and more aggressive in trying to reach their double, willing to go through potential distractions if they have to. Cutting them down seems ineffective at best; as long as there are reflections, the doubles will keep coming, growing more and more bloodied as they "die". Ultimately, they will not stop until characters exit the maze or they reach their exact match.

As they reach their match, they will reach out and grab their heart. Literally, hand through the chest and everything. It's as excruciatingly painful as it sounds. The doppelgänger will smile a demented, satisfied grin, and disappear immediately after without a trace. Any character that got nabbed by their double will suffer from lantern malfunctions for the rest of the event. You're more than welcome to pick what malfunction and to what extent!

FIND YOUR FORTUNE

Characters that have braved wandering outside the relative warmth and activity of the the celebration will find the rest of the amusement park still a little grim. Dark, worn down, abandoned. Plenty of the rides seem ominous at best and dangerous at worst. In their searching, characters are likely to happen upon a fortune teller lingering in the shadows.

If they are brave enough to approach, they'll find there is no need for a coin. Upon spotting them, the fortune teller will creak into motion, offering a spiel in a slightly monotone robotic voice. It's a little unnerving, though what is the worst a robotic fortune teller can really do?

Well, it turns out, every fortune the fortune teller provides always comes true. Some of them are harmless, like a prediction that they will win their next game of darts or find a cherry in their blueberry pie. Some will get far more grim fortunes, that they will find glass in their next drink or that they will step on a nail. Worst of all are fortunes that essentially force a character to do what they would normally wouldn't, like confessing a dark secret to the next person they see.

While you are welcome to make up your fortune, you are also able to put your character's name here to get a mod-generated fortune. There will be potential clues for future explores in these fortunes, though there is also a chance of receiving something else, such as an injury or a strange happenstance. No one will receive death in their fortune!

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"I figured it out pretty quickly. You steer with the wheel, and then there's a lever you hit with your foot to go, and a different one to stop. I think it's the... right one? To go. Just go easy on it because it doesn't take much to get it to move, and it's really jerky if you push too hard."

Who knows how fast they're supposed to go though, really, he knows his weight is probably far more than the thing is supposed to handle. But also, again, it's a ride, right? Probably simplified so even a kid could figure it out.

"You want to try? Or there's other stuff here I haven't checked out yet too. You been on any of the rides?"

Soldat might be circling a little, themselves, looking for an opening of their own. "A lot of favorites. I have whole... folders of favorites. I don't think I could pick a single song. But I could share my collection with you, if you want. Not just on Songbird." They'd been collecting before they had access to Songbird, and continue to keep a lot of actual music files on their tablet, and backed up on a couple USB drives collected from around Beacon. Just in case Songbird someday goes away. "Do you have favorites?"

"Sure! I'd love more music," he replies cheerfully, though looking over at Soldat to say so results in him thunking straight into a wall. Oh well, the slow speed means it's not even that jarring. Just snaps his attention back to the car for a second as he steers it away. Is there a way to back this thing up? Not that he's discovered yet, but a round arena makes it so he doesn't really have to.

"And yeah, I have lots I like. Not sure how I could pick a single favorite either. Earth has a lot of great musicians. Nancy Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald..." He trails off as he double-checks his lantern after the not-quite crash, just out of habit.

"There's some cool guitar stuff on Songbird too," he continues. "Some of the acoustic music reminds me of home a bit more. Not that we didn't have electricity and all that, but some islands are more developed than others."

It's an intentional tangent and it takes some focus to get his mind on that track, rather than talking out loud about some of the songs stuck in his head lately. Look, when you've got the first dumb crush you've had in a good ten years, sometimes it's the cute love songs that catch your attention, but he's trying so hard not to bring that up.

Soldat smiles-- like really smiles-- at those names. They know all those names. "I know those. Those are from before HYDRA." (Those are from the best time in fuckin' history for music. You're biased, Sarge.) "I should share the rest of my swing collection with you." If he likes those, surely he'll like Glenn Miller and Cab Calloway, and maybe he'll get a kick out of the Andrews Sisters, even.

"I've been experimenting," they add, turning the car around to try and come at Rosinante from behind. "As much variety as I can. Some of it's simple guitar like that, some of it's. Really, really not." Look, the Asset really likes Nine Inch Nails... occasionally they do indulge it.

"Sounds like you better," he agrees. More fun music? Can't say no to that.

It takes a little for the car to get up to speed again. He tries for a sudden turn to throw Soldat off his tail, but nothing about this bumper car is actually capable of things like "sudden" or "abrupt" or really even arguably "maneuvering" so Soldat clips his car against the rear and sends him into a gentle spin. This time he holds on fine, though, and urges the car to keep with that arc of movement until it comes back around to smack into Soldat's. Maybe. Driving is hard.

"So when you say really not simple, like what? I've been listening to a bunch, I might have heard it."

The arc works, good job, Rosi. Soldat sees it coming and figures they can't actually get out of the way in time, so they take the hit, bracing themselves with knees and the metal hand. "Really not like guitar music. It's." They have no real way to describe it. They don't know the genre, really, and they can't really identify the instruments used. "Did you listen to anything called Nine Inch Nails?"

He expects the jolt of the collision - he's causing it, of course he expects it - but that doesn't mean he's immune to it. Maybe bumper cars just isn't the best game for him objectively as this time it throws him backward over the rear of the car on his butt, and it's only a quick scrabbling for the back of the seat with his fingers that keeps him from dumping onto the concrete floor.

But he's laughing, so maybe it's fine. "Shit, you have an unfair advantage," he mutters, another one of those thoughts that wasn't meant to be voiced at all.

Once he's recovered his seat and has his hands at the wheel again, he has to think back on the question. "Nine Inch Nails? I don't think so. If I did, I don't remember. Some of them I listen to thirty seconds of and then skip to the next one if it doesn't grab me right away so maybe, maybe not."

"How's it unfair?" Soldat asks with a smile. "Just cuz you don't fit right. That's not my fault."

They drive out of range, for now, aiming for a spot of keep-away, letting Rosinante chase them again. "If you like quiet guitar and jazz, you probably wouldn't like that," Soldat offers with half a smile. "It's very loud and kind of. Metal-sounding. Well, most of it. Some of it's quieter, but not in the same way as Elle Fitzgerald. It's not acoustic."

"Metal-sounding? Like... a sword hitting armor? What does metal sound like?" he wonders out loud. "No, I'm sure you don't mean that but I don't really think I know what you do mean. Still, if you like a lot of the same music I like, I don't know why you'd think I wouldn't like that one."

Only way to know is to try it, which he figures he'll do after he gets at least one more good hit in here with the bumper car. Maybe. He'll give it his best go.

They don't have the right kind of vocabulary to describe industrial genre music, but Rosinante is one of the few people who know about the Asset, so they... suppose they can explain. There doesn't seem to be anyone else close enough to overhear. "Because it's not me who likes it. It's the Asset. Its taste is not... the same as mine."

Klaes blinks once...twice....then breaks into wheezing laughter which does not help his floating. But the blunt and, admittedly, practical answer catches him off guard.

But it is true.

Still grinning in the wake of his laughter, he finds his footing and stands. "I appreciate your honesty."

So serious.

"Well yeah the fun is not required but it canno'hurt, yeah?" Ashford holds his hands up, palms skyward, in a gesture that begs 'why not have the fun if you can?'

"Good. Now, how shall we decide who starts? Or shall we go at the same time?"

"From what I have seen with Stone, the lantern fixer's work is getting shoddy." And from what he's seen with his own lantern, for that matter, despite the fact that he has not died in this place. The thing looks...well...aged.

"Was this your first death here?"

"Oh. Well, shit." Stone frowns deeply, but accepts the explanation. "That's a thing people should probably know, Rosinante, especially when we have floods and rain and really dangerous rivers. What if nobody knew and didn't know you needed help?"

Good thing Stone's still got his hand under Klaes's back, isn't it?

"I'm always honest," Stone huffs, and gives Klaes a very gentle cuff to the side of the head once he's steady. "And I definitely don't want you drowning, so I'm going to give you every trick I can think of to help. What if you come back with a stupid dead reflection like I've got? Or worse." There's a lot of things worse. The stupid dead reflection isn't even that bad, especially when he usually can't see it clearly.

"Ah." He nods. "Darker? Angrier? I don't - I know enough about the Asset to guess at what that means. Big assumptions, but am I far off?"

One last attempt to crash this dumb car into Soldat's, he decides as he floors the gas pedal, not that it does a whole lot for the speed. "I need a cigarette," he announces bluntly, then snorts. "Goddamn fortune teller."

"No, I've died three times now," he announces, then winces. Ugh, he does not have enough of a handle on this. But he can divert, because Ashford just said something odd right before that.

"The lantern fixers are working pretty hard though, I guarantee you. They're still practicing. You been by the labs at all?"

He did say fixers, right? "You do know Dr. Solis is gone, right?"

"People do know," he replies. "Law's-"

He's able to cut himself off at that, grinding his teeth before he starts spouting off things about other people. He's already annoyed at having to talk so abruptly about himself, but he doesn't need to go spilling others' secrets and weaknesses. Not that this is any secret anymore, really, after the Helix Station.

"Law's not far off, usually. He knows. Besides, of all the things that have managed to kill me here so far, not once has it actually been water. I've lived my whole life around the ocean, I know how to deal with it."

Stone gives a little grunt at that. He does have a point that he's been fine, but at the same time: "You keep too many secrets, boy." He shrugs. "But if you don't trust us after all this time, I guess that's as much on us as it is on you, isn't it."

He looks between Rosinante and the water thoughtfully. "Does splashing hurt you? Or just wading in?"

There are some things he wants to say to defend himself, for he has very good reason for all his secrets, but before he can open his mouth and spout it all out against his will, Stone continues, thankfully. The question disrupts his thoughts, half-formed.

"No. It doesn't hurt no matter what. It just makes me tired. Not sleepy, but exhausted. Too deep and I can't even move. Gets hard to think. But only if it's still water, like that lake. Rivers are fine. Splashing's fine. I just get wet."

He frowns a little and shrugs. "I talked about this with Will when he first found out and he tried to come up with all kinds of reasons but nothing I said really made complete sense to him. I know the old stories, but not really why or how. Doesn't matter anyway, I just try to keep out of it."

Soldat is distracted, reaching into their jacket for their tablet to maybe play some of it to show Rosinante, so while they see the ram coming, they don't have time to get out of the way. What they can do is make an undignified little yip and grab the side of the car and hope they don't drop the tablet.

They don't, but it's a near thing, and Rosinante bumps their car right up against the side of the ring. "You win," they say with a sheepish grin.

"You let me," he replies. "Well. Or maybe you didn't, but I don't think I did anything special. Anyway, I'm just glad I got to try one of these dumb things out," he says, and gives the car a joking pat of affection once it has come to a full stop.

His toe catches on the lip of the bumper as he tries to stand, and he tumbles straight to the ground, but the bumper car is also a convenient handhold to stand up with. Once successfully on two feet again, he heads out of the arena so he can get his cigarette lit without anyone else who might want to play trying to knock him over.

"Let myself be distracted. Failure on my part." Sure does show how far they've come, though. Actually playing around, letting themselves get distracted in the middle of a "fight", even if that "fight" was with stupid kiddie cars. They can't imagine ever doing that even six months ago. Soldat shakes their head and climbs out of the car to follow.

Politely saying nothing about the fall, instead just scrolling to their saved music files. (That one. You sure? Yes.) "Here. This is what I was talking about."

Music and a cigarette, cool. Rosinante leans back against the arena wall and listens while savoring the smoke - flavorless, now, but the feel of the smoke and the hit of nicotine still provide some satisfaction.

The song is different from what he's been listening to, sure, absolutely, but it's not bad. "Has a good beat to it," he says, noticing his toe has begun to tap slightly along with it. "The lyrics are... kinda sad, though."

That's... well, that's a lot to unpack. Will isn't quite sure where to start until Rosi says that last bit.

"What do you mean 'that one time at the night market'?" He gives Rosinante a sidelong glance. He thinks he knows what he means, but there's more to it here than just that time you got high and rambled at me. Now there's intent.

He's not mad, at least he doesn't think he is, not yet, but he is... suspicious.

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EVENT LOG: COTTON CANDY HEARTS

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